


Community Service

by brokenhighways



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community Service, M/M, Misunderstandings, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:34:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5155553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While serving his community service Jensen is volunteering at a gardening centre where he meets Jared who also sentenced to community service. They hit it off quickly and things seem to be going well until Jensen returns to the centre and finds that Jared's giving him the cold shoulder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Community Service

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kalypsobean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/gifts).



> For **K**. Happy belated birthday, girl!  <3\. 
> 
> Thank you to **S** for reading it over. Mistakes are mine.

Jensen loses his way twice on the way to the gardening centre but he finds that it’s not worth getting annoyed over. No, all of his annoyance is directed toward being here in the first place. It’s bad enough that he was falsely arrested for aggressive behaviour and endangering others, but even worse that the punk ass cyclist he happened to have a run in with was the son of a well-known politician. Given that he worked in city planning, his boss advised him to quietly take whatever heat they threw his way and handle it like ‘man’. Jensen wishes he’d told Beaver to shove his bullshit where the sun doesn’t shine, but he’s never been one to stand up to authority. 

The woman in charge hands him a pair of cheap plastic gloves after he’s signed in and points at a bag of soil before walking away. He supposes that she’s supposed to be _planting_ something, but still a little direction would be nice. 

“You a first timer?” Jensen turns to see a really tall gentlemen staring down at him from under floppy, dark brown backs. There’s a streak of dirt on the man’s angular face, and all along his exquisitely toned arms and the flimsy white tank top he’s wearing. Hazel-green eyes bore into his and Jensen swallows. He nods, because he’s not sure that he can trust himself to speak around Hot Guy. Along with being a pushover, he’s hopeless in the romance department. 

“I’ll help you out,” the guy says, with a slight lilt to his voice. “Traci’s always cranky on Mondays.”

Jensen snorts. “Girl after my own heart. Mind you, I’m cranky on most days before coffee.” The guy grins at him, all bright and happily, like Jensen’s just said the most amazing thing. 

“Luckily for you, I’m a morning person!” he chirps happily. “Okay, you might want to lose the jacket and the tie. Actually, just come in your grungiest clothes. As you can see, this isn’t the cleanest job. How many hours they give you?” Jensen’s slightly taken aback by the question but figures that the expensive suit was a giveaway. Coming here straight from work was probably a bad idea. 

“Three hundred,” he says with a grimace. “It’s a travesty.”

Hot Guy laughs, a deep, soothing rumble that seems to bleed into Jensen’s veins. He’s fairly certain that sighs happily. “Well, I have to do a thousand hours, so you’re still better off than me.” 

Traci saunters into view and grumbles something about their being less yapping and more planting so Hot Guy shows him over to a bare patch of dirt and gives him a quick rundown on what to do and leaves Jensen to it. 

Two hours later and he’s stripped down to his own undershirt as sweat drips from every part of his body. The work isn’t too bad. It’s just laying down soil and planting seeds. Simple, methodical and pleasant, on account of all of the eye candy that Hot Guy is providing. 

“Hey, you wanna go grab a drink after this?” Jensen blinks rapidly and sees that the guy is standing in front of him. 

“Uh, sure,” he says. “I’d love to. I’m Jensen, by the way.”

“Jared,” Hot Guy says with another bright smile. 

~

Jensen’s not really the best at relationships, dating or interacting with people in general but he gets along well with Jared. They talk about everything and anything, even going as far as to compare their arrest stories which is funny in an ironic way. Jared’s a graduate student working part time at a library, and apparently a keen environmentalist. Jensen’s almost in tears when Jared finishes recalling his arrest.

“Well, okay, I did it to impress a girl,” Jared says, eyes bright and wide as he takes another sip of his beer. “Big, fat mistake there. She dumped me when she realised that I wasn’t a vegetarian.”

Jensen winces sympathetically. “Ouch.”

“What about you?” Jared asks with a coy glance. “Got a girlfriend?”

Jensen shakes his head. 

“Boyfriend?” 

“Last one dumped me. Apparently I’m a shitty communicator.” Jensen’s chuckling as he says it, though there’s a stab of hurt in his chest. The last relationship was the one that cut him the deepest, hence why it’s been three years of awkward one night stands and dates that peter out. 

“You’re doing a good job right now,” Jared tells him. His eyes are dark and Jensen knows that if he wants it, tonight just might be his lucky night. 

“Do you maybe want to come back to my place?” Jensen asks him. 

Jared grins. “Thought you’d never ask.”

~

They don’t do much talking at Jensen’s apartment, and the memories make Jensen chuckle wryly as he nurses his hangover the next morning. He recalls Jared writhing underneath him as a thin layer of sweat covered his body. The sound of their rushed breaths, the feel of Jared’s calloused fingers gripping his cock tightly, the taste of Jared’s skin on his tongue. Making their way to Jensen’s bedroom, with Jared watching as Jensen rummages around in his nightstand for lube and condoms. Things get hazy after that but he definitely remembers Jared pushing into his tight hole and fucking into him hard and fast until they’re both covered in sweat and come, chests heaving as they regain their breath slowly. 

His smile falls as he realises that Jared left without saying anything, not even a note or his number. Jensen definitely didn’t get a one night stand kinda vibe from Jared, but that’s never stopped certain guys. He suddenly regrets opening up as much as he had. Fucking alcohol and its ability to bring his defences crashing down. 

~

When Jensen next arrives at the centre, Jared is there but he doesn’t acknowledge him past a rushed greeting. It leaves Jensen with a grim, hollow pit in his stomach but he gets on with what he’s supposed to be doing. 

The same thing happens the next three times Jensen turns up and he stops paying attention after that. Jared won’t be the first dude to leave him high and dry and he probably won’t be the last, given his current streak of bad luck in the romance department. 

His best friend’s attempts to make him feel better don’t work either. 

“Maybe he’s secretly part of the mafia and he’s saving you from a life of crime?” Danneel says, one evening while they’re at the bar – the same one he and Jared were at, which doesn’t make Jensen feel bitter at all. Nope. “Or maybe he was abducted by aliens on that same night.”

“If you make a close encounter joke, I’m leaving,” Jensen warns her. 

She levels him with a wicked grin but doesn’t say anything else. 

Eventually, she adds, “Look, maybe he just didn’t have a good time and he’s trying to let you down gently. Or not-so-gently. Either way, there’s no point driving yourself crazy over some asshole who’s been blanking you for _days._ Forget about it.”

Her words remain with him and he stops trying to get Jared's attention. They manage to co-exist with no drama and Jensen is perfectly okay with it. Well, except for the fact that he can't stop thinking about how easy it was to talk to Jared. Sure, it was just one day of intense conversation and flirting but still, there was that spark that isn't going away, no matter how many times he tells himself that he deserves better. He catches Jared looking at him a few times, and even catches the tail end of a mumbled greeting but they don't talk again until three weeks after their encounter. 

He's raking through a patch of soil, silently congratulating himself for buying a pair of snug gardening gloves when he hears a loud yelp and the sound of metal clanging to the ground. He looks up to see Jared holding on to his arm which is covered in crimson red. It's the three years of EMT training that propels him forward, not anything else. Traci mumbles something about calling an ambulance but Jared shakes his head. His face is white as Jensen kneels next to him and takes a look at the gash. It's deep and will probably require stitches. When he informs Jared, the younger man shakes his head. 

"I don't have insurance," he mutters darkly without looking Jensen in the eye. Jensen fights the urge to roll his eyes has he turns to face Traci. 

“Do you have a first aid box?” he asks, turning back to Jared. “I can try and patch it up but it’s better for you to get it looked it. I can fill in the paperwork if you need me to.” Jared looks up at that, with a mixture of surprised and what looks like shame in his eyes. With the limited resources in the first aid box, Jensen gives up and just drives Jared to the hospital himself. 

It’s not until Jared emerges from the emergency room, that Jensen breathes a sigh of relief. The awkwardness of the situation is starting to reach an uncomfortable level and all he wants to do is go home, sleep it off and count down the hours of community service that he has left to do. 

Jared holds up his bandaged arm with a wry grin. “Twelve stitches.” Jensen snorts dryly. 

“That’ll teach you to be careful,” he retorts. Jared’s answering nod is solemn and Jensen rises from the hard plastic seat and shrugs. 

“Do you need a ride home?” He’s expecting Jared to say no, given that he’s been unable to get a word out of him for the past couple of weeks but he doesn’t and they make their way to the parking lot in silence. 

The ride is just as silent and tense for the first five minutes before Jared finally speaks up. 

“Thank you for helping me out,” he says quietly. “And, I’m sorry about what happened. For being a complete asshole.”

Jensen focuses his attention on the traffic momentarily as he takes in what Jared’s said. Sorry is one thing but the _why_ is what bothers him. 

“You have been a bit of a dick,” he says eventually when more poignant words aren’t forthcoming. “I hope I didn’t do anything that upset you when we…”

Jared shakes his head vigorously. “No, you…it’s not you, it’s me.” There’s a brief chuckle after that when Jared realises what he’s said. 

“Now, where have I heard that before,” Jensen says with a sardonic grin. “Care to elaborate?” Jared smiles at him a little but it fades pretty quickly and Jensen can see the obvious worry in his eyes. It perturbs him slightly because the last thing he wants to do is freak him out. 

“I just, _freaked_ out, I mean, I got up to get a glass of water and I guess I got nosy and had a look around your place,” Jared explains. “It’s a nice place and I don’t know, brush with the law aside, you seem to know what you’re doing and you have your life together. People like you don’t date guys like me.”

“Oh but people who let you take the wrap for _their_ crimes, do?” Jensen asks, feeling a little aggrieved. He can see what Jared’s saying but he would never judge someone just because their circumstances are different. Or at least, he wouldn’t have judged Jared. That Jared just _assumed_ pisses him off a little. 

“That was different, she’s going places and I’m not, it made sense that I took the fall,” Jared replies. “And I wasn’t exactly innocent.” From what Jared told him the day they met, Jensen doesn’t exactly buy that, but whatever. He wasn’t there but, he’s here now. He can have an opinion on _now_. 

“What happened to you that you have such a low opinion of yourself?” Jensen’s probably in no position to talk – he beats himself up internally enough times a day to know that he has no high ground here, but Jared makes himself sound like a life sentence instead of an actual person. 

Jared hasn’t actually given him an address, so Jensen takes the turn for his apartment, waiting for Jared’s answer as he pulls up outside his complex. 

“Social anxiety,” Jared mutters hesitantly. “It’s frustrating and I don’t think that anyone else should have to deal with my hang ups. I mean, they can give you meds, put you through CBT sessions until you get better enough to _deal_ , but I haven’t been able to afford that for a while now. 

“So, instead I have to put on this face and _pretend_ like my skin isn’t crawling and I’m not going crazy and replaying conversations and interactions over and over. I have to pretend that being around people doesn’t terrify me half of the time. It can be exhausting, especially when I meet someone who might just be worth it.”

Jensen doesn’t really have the right words to say but in this case, he thinks less might be more. “That must be difficult for you.”

“It’s not a walk in the park, but it doesn’t make it okay for me to just _disappear_ on you, after having the guts to actually come and talk to you in the first place.” Jared looks so upset with himself that Jensen can’t help playing devil’s advocate. 

“Yeah, but, the way I see it, making progress doesn’t mean that the problem will go away, or that the level of progress will remain constant. It also doesn’t mean that you’re any lesser as a person. I wouldn’t have judged you – and I’m not. All I wanted was an explanation and I’m happy to accept the one you’ve given me.”

“Thank you,” Jared responds solemnly. “That means a lot. And I _do_ like you. A lot. Actually, I’ve been psyching myself up to come over and see if you were still willing to give things a shot. That’s why I ended up injuring myself, I was having a mental freak out and completely distracted.”

“I’d be happy to give things a shot, provided that you don’t completely ignore me again” Jensen says with a slight grin. His slightly dented pride is slowly bouncing back into shape and he finds that the dark cloud in his chest has been listed. It feels kind of wrong to feel _relieved_ that he wasn’t the problem, but the thought of happier times ahead soothes his worries. “Even if it’s just a wave, or a message – I’d be okay with that. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I just don’t want to have to wake up and feel like there’s suddenly a huge boulder between us.”

Jared reaches over and pulls Jensen’s hand into his. “I’ll try my best. It’s already really easy for me to actually _talk_ to you. And instead of lettering that scare me, I think I can handle it. I want to.”

Jensen’s squeezes Jared’s hand gently, figuring that in this instance, nothing more needs to be said. 

Later that evening when Jensen’s lying in bed with his phone, waiting for a reply to his message, he thinks about how frustrating it would be to second guess every interaction and retreat away to avoid facing it and he thinks about how _he_ might inadvertently add to Jared’s anxiety, how there’s no real way to control these things. 

And when his phone buzzes with a text from Jared that reads _Thanks for being so understanding_ , he realises that he wants to be that person that Jared can be entirely comfortable with and he wants to _help_ anyway he can. He wants to show Jared that it doesn’t matter what people think of him, because even they barely know each other, there’s already a spark between them, a connection that indicates that they could have a really good thing here and, he plans on making sure that it comes to fruition. 


End file.
